Vacation Bible School

Below is an album of our VBS. Our church has an all-family Vacation Bible School. While the kids are in their classes learning the adults are with Pastor Cable learning. The schedule worked out soo nicely. We have an opening all together (adults and children) when we do the Waddly-Atcha song (a VBS favorite), penny offering (our personal favorite, just a side note our penny offering was going to Camp Chetek this year for scholarships for Junior Mission Campers. We were able to raise over $1800.00 What a lot of pennies for the teens to count!! What a blessing that was).

We then divide the kids up for their classes. While the adults stayed in the sanctuary. After a short lesson, and memory verse time, the kids go out to play a game. After that they all came back into the sanctuary and David would do an object lesson using magic (the kids love this part). After the closing the VBS store would be open. The kids can use the money they get for saying verses, answering questions, and being good listeners (we have said it's fun to watch the spending habbits of children). After they are done with the store adults and children can go get snacks!

It was such a wonderful week of fun and adventure. The kids enjoyed it as did the parents. David did such a wonderful job! At the end of Bible school on Thursday night we were ready to crash. We averaged 65 children a night.

The teens were split up and served in various roles such as penny offering counters (not an easy task), teacher aids, games helpers, and ran the store. They did such a wonderful job and were very helpful!

Here's an album of our week

Vacation Bible School

Twins?!?!?

Oh, so you thought we were having more....not quite! Our church has had an over abundance of babies. Annika was the first in a group of five due between March and May. Then came Micheal (end of March), Evalina (April), Timmy (beginning of May), and Elliott (middle of May). We now have 2 more babies due (one in November and one next March). What a blessing babies are and can be.

Well anyways, back to the title. These are a few pictures of Timmy (our neighbor boy) and Annika. We are in the middle of our Vacation Bible School (I will tell more about that later). But onto the babies....

This is Annika and Timmy going to Hollywood! (Checkin' out some of the VBS prizes)



Sara and I holding Annika and Timmy (we didn't realize that we also somewhat matched) :)

And last but not least....twins?!?


Okay, so maybe not, but they both look pretty cute in their matching bib overalls!!!

It's Annika...

Here are a few recent pictures of Annika....enjoy! :)

An apple a day...

Annika & Aunt Elizabeth

Annika in blue (I love it!)

Aunt Elizabeth, Annika & Uncle Justin

Bath time fun....maybe ;)

Annika and Lincoln chillin' (she fell over on him)

More of Annika & Lincoln. Lincoln has really started to lay by her more. Annika loves it!

The Animals

Okay, so Justin and Elizabeth came to visit us and took the cable we use to connect the camera to the computer, so needless to say we can't download any pictures. I was looking for something to post (because I have nothing else to do with my time when Annika is sleeping). She has been fussy lately working on her second tooth, it is almost through.

I was looking through some pictures and found 2 videos of our animals: Lincoln and Zoe (the cat). Grab some popcorn, a soda, and enjoy the shows! :)

The first video is of Zoe. She is our 10 pound cat. We got Zoe from the Humane Soceity when she was about 3 months old. The told us she was going to be petite...the only petite thing about her is her head! She is on a somewhat diet (if we leave food in her dish she will eat it all and expect more). So here is a video of why she hasn't seem to be loosing weight!

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I guess it is time to get her a new food container, now that she's learned to open this one!


The next video is of our dog Lincoln. We have had him for over a year now. He is our mintuare daschund. (Free mind you!!) But anyways, David had bought me this stuffed duck along time ago and it makes this annoying squeaking noise. Lincoln absolutely loves it (he would love to eat it), but we keep it in the downstairs spare room. Everytime one of us or someone else goes in the room Lincoln will sit and stair into the closet to where he knows the duck is and will just wait for it to magically fall down. Justin and I took this video of him going crazy trying to "catch" this duck and what happens when he does catch it.


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And more firsts...

In addition to Annika's first tooth, she also had a lot more first this last week. She had her first taste of cereal which she seemed to enjoy very much. She also rolled over from her tummy to her back (as seen in this video), she is also very close to rolling from her back to her tummy (maybe by the end of the week). She also had her first real bath in the bathtub...no more sink baths for her (I'm not so sure she liked the idea she has a pretty serious face in the pictures)! :) Here are some pictures of her first feeding and her first bath and a video of her rolling over.

Go figure I cannot find the cord to put the rest of the pics onto our computer (mainly the bathtub pictures and the rolling over video). So I'll just post the cereal pictures for now and the other ones will be posted shortly (hopefully)....so stay tuned! :)

4th of July

What a fun week of the 4th we had. Elizabeth and Justin Fain (David's sister and bro-in-law) came to visit us this week. They have been in Saipan for the last year teaching. They just got back in May and came to see Annika. We have been having a blast!! Annika has been one busy little girl! These photos are specifically from the 4th of July we will post other photos from our week with Justin and Elizabeth later.

On the 4th we went to the Manske's house for a cookout (our neighbors). We then went tubing down the Sunrise River (Annika got to stay back with Jolene, Dorthy, and her new little friend Elliott, he's 2 1/2 months younger than Annika). After we were finished tubing we went to the fireworks. We thought for sure Annika would cry because of the noise, so we are borrowed the Manske's noise reduction headphones for her. She did not end up wearing them. In fact the noise did not bother her at all! She sat on mom's lap and watched the fireworks. During the grand finale Elizabeth looked over and said that Annika was smiling! On the way home in the car Annika "konked out" it was a busy day for her.

Here is a slide show from the fireworks. At the end are a few candid shots of Annika I took to put in her baby book.

Almost 4 months...

Okay so Annika is almost 4 months old and I was going to wait to write a new post, but I decided to do it along with another big mile stone in her life. Annika will be 4 months old on July 6th (her daddy's birthday)!

Annika went into the doctor on Monday and she is at 12 pounds 8 ounces and is 24 inches long. She has gained only one pound and 1/2 inch in two months.

Along with the doctor's appointment she has met another mile stone in her life. Her first tooth came through last night. She has been soo fussy lately and I did not know why. I have checked her gums many times in the last week and did not notice anything. Today at our annual 4th of July church picnic a nurse was holding her and informed me that her first tooth broke through. So almost 4 months old and her first tooth. She has been "slobbering" all over...we are happy that we have found some plastic lined bibs! :o) Here are a few picture of her from today! As you can see she enjoys posing for the camera. :)



*Outfit courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Stertz, Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Benjamin, and Uncle Bryan*